Rainwater leaks into AP ministers’ chambers; files, documents damaged

GUNTUR: Rainwater leaked into the chambers of AP minister for human resources, Ganta Srinivasa Rao and AP minister for water resources, D. Uma-maheswara Rao on Tuesday.

The rainwater that leaked from the false ceiling troubled the employees and the officials pressed workers into service to remove the leaked water that dripped into Block 4 of the Secretariat.

Earlier, a similar incident of rainwater leakage happened on June 6 in the chamber of YSR Congress president and opposition leader Y.S. Jagan Mohan Reddy. The government, suspecting a conspiracy behind the leakage, ordered an inquiry. The Secretariat staff and public were worried over the leakage in the world-class Secretariat.

Besides the rainwater seepage into the ministers’ chambers, the false ceiling of revenue and stamps and registration department had fallen due to rainwater seepage.

Rainwater soaks AP Secretariat filesThe employees faced a lot of inconvenience due to flowing of the rainwater onto the floor. The files and other documents in the office of the Water Resources secretary Sasibhushan reportedly got drenched in the rainwater. The officials of the various departments including APCRDA rushed to Block 4 and directed the contractors to repair the leakages instantly. The rainwater further started leaking from the panes of the windows. The staff immediately plunged into action and removed the water in buckets.

YSR Congress MLA Alla Ramakrishna Reddy, suspecting package deals behind the poor quality of the construction of the Secretariat, has demanded a CBI inquiry. He alleged that the government paid Rs 10,000 per square feet against the normal rate of Rs 3,500. The public wants to know the causes, conspiracies and illegalities in the Secretariat contract.

Recalling the CID inquiry into the water leakage in Mr Jagan Mohan Reddy’s chamber, he said that there was no progress by the CID despite the passing of a month.

APCRDA vice-chairman and minister for municipal administration P. Narayana rushed to the Secretariat and inspected the leakages. He ruled out any illegalities in the Secretariat’s construction and claimed that rainwater had leaked into the chambers due to the ‘duck sheet’ on the roof.

He said that orders had been issued to remove the duck sheet and said that the contractors would be looking after Secretariat for a period of two years. He said that there would be some small problems in big building constructions and that people also face similar difficulties and he felt no need for treating the leak as a big issue. He appealed to everybody not to inflate simple leaks into big faults or a failure.